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New Jersey Man Sentenced To 10 Years In Prison For Luring Teen To Pennsylvania, Downloading Images Of Child Sex Abuse

NEWARK, N.J. – A Sussex County, N.J., man was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for luring a teenage boy to Pennsylvania for illegal sexual activity, as well as downloading and receiving images on his home computer of children being sexually abused, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Robert Mucha, 58, of Newton, N.J., previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls in Newark federal court to one count of enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and one count of receiving child pornography. Judge Walls imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed and statements made in court:

In October 2010, Mucha convinced a teenage boy to travel from New Jersey to Pennsylvania to spend the day with him and then sleep over at Mucha’s apartment in Stroudsberg, Pa. After he was arrested in July 2012, Mucha admitted to sexual contact with the teenager.

Prior to his arrest, Mucha worked as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician in Andover, N.J. He also previously taught band and Bugle Corps to teenagers in Belleville, N.J., and Lakewood, N.J.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Walls sentenced Mucha to serve a lifetime of supervised release – during which his access to computers, the Internet and children will be restricted – and ordered him to pay $10,000 in restitution. Mucha is also required to register as a sex offender.

Today’s sentencing is part of Operation Holitna, an ongoing HSI-led investigation that originated in Boston. U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Andrew M. McLees in Newark, with the investigation leading to sentencing. He also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and the HSI Boston office.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or its online tip form at http://www.ice.gov/tips Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Bruck of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.